Reloading for IPSC Competition

I was chatting with The Analog Kid tonight, and toward the end of my reply to the message he sent to me (he suggested I throw in with him and some other folks on an order from Cheaper Than Dirt, which retailer is offering a good price on ammunition orders over $150), I realized that I had just written a Blog Post.

Just for grins, here's a Geek-Length Post which proves that I inflict verbosity even on my friends. (Also, it is a fair description of the process by which we build ammunition for IPSC competition.)

Thanx for the ammo offer, but everything I shoot, I reload for. Even have a semi-progressive shotshell press (which I haven't used for almost 20 years ... shows how often I shoot shotgun.)

Usually Previously, several of us in the area get together twice a year to put in a large order for powder, primers or bullets. But one of the guys decided to start a little business, so he put a couple grand into the components that we usually use (Vihta Vourhi N-350 powder, Montana Gold 115gr .38 super bullets) and resells to us for just a few bucks a keg or case more than we would otherwise have paid for it. He saves more on shipping, so it's worth his effort. This arrangement allows us to spread our purchases out over the year. I don't mind a month when I find myself paying $70 a 4# keg for powder, or $190 for a 4000-count case of bullets, but I don't want to pay three times that amount for a six-month supply. My cash flow use to suck!

Yeah, we really do shoot up 4000 rounds every two months. Not as much during the winter, more during the summer. Of course, I'm using twice as much because I'm loading both for me and for SWMBO. I'm telling you, if I'm not shooting 1000 rounds a month, I get withdrawal symptoms something fierce!

About once a month, SWMBO comes down to my place and we load up a thousand rounds or so on a Saturday afternoon. I load ammo. She loads the primer feed tubes for my XL650, gauges and inspects the finished rounds, boxes them up, double-checks for hi-primers, separates the .38 Super rounds (which both of our guns will shoot) from the .38 Super Comp rounds (which only my gun will shoot), and marks the 'match ammo' so we get our own brass back.

She also separates out the 'fat' rounds ... those which don't fit in the chamber gauge. My gun has a looser chamber than hers, so I hang on to it (the 'fat' ammo) and later drop it into the barrel of my gun. If it drops in okay, I shoot it at practice.

A couple times a year, one of us sits down on the concrete garage floor with in inertial bullet puller and salvage bullets and powder from those rounds which are too fat for my gun, or the primer is either missing or not seated properly. Right now I have about a thousand rounds of .38 Super ammo waiting for this recovery effort. It's a real pain in the rear (literally ... that concrete is HARD), but it's worth it. I can even salvage some of the cases, which is a GOOD deal since brass costs between $90 and $100 a thousand ... I try to get along by buying a couple thousand new cases every year, and hope that I can find used brass for sale after one of the local clubs holds a 'lost brass' match.

Hey, I think I've just written another blog article. Thanx for the inspiration [Analog Kid], I'll use it tonite.

Jerry